WAIT, WHY DO I HAVE TO PAY TO COMMENT?
Tablet is committed to bringing you the best, smartest, most enlightening and entertaining reporting and writing on Jewish life, all free of charge. We take pride in our community of readers, and are thrilled that you choose to engage with us in a way that is both thoughtful and thought-provoking. But the Internet, for all of its wonders, poses challenges to civilized and constructive discussion, allowing vocal—and, often, anonymous—minorities to drag it down with invective (and worse). Starting today, then, we are asking people who'd like to post comments on the site to pay a nominal fee—less a paywall than a gesture of your own commitment to the cause of great conversation. All proceeds go to helping us bring you the ambitious journalism that brought you here in the first place.

I NEED TO BE HEARD! BUT I DONT WANT TO PAY.
Readers can still interact with us free of charge via Facebook, Twitter, and our other social media channels, or write to us at letters@tabletmag.com. Each week, we’ll select the best letters and publish them in a new letters to the editor feature on the Scroll.

We hope this new largely symbolic measure will help us create a more pleasant and cultivated environment for all of our readers, and, as always, we thank you deeply for your support.

Several years ago I was invited to a dinner mid afternoon gathering of maybe ten or tweleve familes in the Tampa FL area. It was called a not sure of the spelling but here goes say-da there was a reading of the story of the departing of Moses from Egypt it was in a small paper booklet in english and many copies were on the table. Each person who had a copy read a part, I was one who also had a copy and I read the part being Christian the host appoligesed how ever I feel good to have taken part. I am very courious and to what part of the Hebrew religious holidays was this and when is this holiday. Thank you for any any information. A any information as to where I could get a copy of the story would make me very happy. BOB NELSON

Is Hanukkah the most interpretable Jewish holiday? The points of view expressed in these articles present quite a few choices. Recently, I tried to capture all the differing ways people view Judah Maccabee and the Hasmoneans — again, enormous variation. I found Judah Macabee to be seen as a freedom fighter (American Revolution style) and as a defender of the Jewish State (Israeli style) but also a leader in a struggle against assimilation; I found the Jewish martyr and the Christian warrior-hero prototype and the plain military hero of Handel’s Oratorio. (You can read it here: http://hero-or-antihero.blogspot.com/2010/11/happy-hanukkah.html )

Name (required)Email (required, will not be published)Website (optional)

Message

2000

Your comment may be no longer than 2,000 characters, approximately 400 words. HTML tags are not permitted, nor are more than two URLs per comment. We reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments.